Pray for Peace
by YouWILLbealright
Summary: Tony's at a press conference when he hears. Steve was half dead. Not Stony! Strong language ahead.


**Who: Tony, Natasha, Steve, Sam**

**What: Tony's at a press conference when he hears. Steve was half dead. _Not_ Stony!**

**When: After CA:TWS, so spoilers.**

**Why: Plot bunny, that's why.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned, I would not have written this drabble.**

X

_"For it is the soldier who must suffer and bare the deepest wounds and scars of war..."_

_- Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)_

X

Tony's at a press conference when he hears. Well, when he's told.

His phone rings - Natashalie - and he answers it 'cuz, _duh_, she could kill him from wherever the fuck she was and he could not.

He smiles at the people looking at him with wide eyes and sultry smiles and glares. "Hello?" He sounds casual, but he's anything but. Natasha doesn't call him for just anything, and she probably knows he's busy, so...

"Have you heard?" She's blunt, getting right to the point. There's a lot of noise in the background, which is disconcerting, because the few times she's ever talked to him over a phone call, her end is silent otherwise. "About-" she pauses and effectively confuses him "-Steve?"

She's never called Steve by his first name, or any of the avengers except for Clint and him, so he's on red alert at once. "No. What happened? Where are you, actually? Is Spangles okay?" Steve had expressed not wanting to be known to the world - Tony'd called him Hannah Montana for a solid week. Point was, Tony had cameras on his face, recording and projecting this conversation to the world.

"HYDRA happened. I'm in D.C. And, as for Steve..." she trails off. Tony blanches, but then tries valiantly to school his features. Then, Natasha shouts "there he is!" at someone she's with, probably, and all kinds of worst-case-scenarios come to mind.

Tony still doesn't know what happened to Steve.

So, he searches D.C. on Google - yes, the great Tony Stark knows how to use and does Google - and a whole shitstorm comes up on his phone.

_Devastation in D.C. - Captain America Supposedly in the Middle of it!_

_Where Were the Avengers? _

_Helicarriers Down in the Potomac!_

_Heroes With Tragic Histories - Read More!_

_Thousands of SHIELD Files, Free!_

Tony rips the phone up to his ear and flat out growls, "where the _fuc__k_ is Rogers?" Steve probably won't care - well, Steve is more than likely dead, so the chances of that actually happening skyrocketed. But, if he isn't, Steve'll be pissed about exposing his secret identity, even though it's probably already common knowledge and his cussing. Whatever. Tony's worried, cut him some slack.

Natasha sighed. "I'm currently holding his stomach in place at the edge of the Potomac, Tony." She sounds weary. Tony doesn't care. He's dead serious right now.

"And what happened to SHIELD?"

"There was never an actual SHIELD, Tony. It was HYDRA the whole time, for, like, seventy years. _Sam_! Shit - he's not - _Sam_!"

Tony might be hyperventilating. He was pretty fucking sure he was, in fact. Steve wasn't _what_? Breathing? Bleeding, because he'd run out? Listening?

"What about Barton?" Clint probably won't care either - hopefully. Tony doesn't know whether to panic or get pissed - he doesn't have the suits to fall back on anymore, so he is practically fucked sideways. "Widow? Natasha?" She'll definitely care. Oh well.

"I don't know!" She growled and snapped at him. She could be mistaken for angry, but Tony knew, deep in his gut, that Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, was scared out of her mind. "Sam, call the fucking - fucking police, or _something_!" She sounds desperate. Tony's own stomach twists painfully. "Goddamnit, Rogers, c'mon."

Who knows what his face looks like - what he's saying without words and instead with facial reactions.

Frankly, Tony didn't give a shit.

"Is he dead? Is he even _breathing_?" Tony feels like he's having a nightmare - but he'd never dreamt of Steve before or after his epiphany. "Natasha! Fuck it, woman, _answer me_!"

"He's not breathing, Tony! Al_right_? Christ, he's having the worst - _second_ worst week of his life."

"Wha - why?" He's acting completey demanding, but really, shit was hitting the fan with every turn of the blades, so whatever.

"Can we not talk about this right now? Steve, Steve, it's okay, he's... he's not here, you're safe, Steve." Her voice had gone from her usual biting tone to a motherly one in about two seconds flat.

"Why wouldn't he be fucking _safe_? He's Captain America - what the _hell_, Nat?"

"Look, I'm having him get taken to a hospital, and he won't be leaving for a while, alright? If you come to see him, " and didn't she know him _so well_, "don't make fun of him. The past kind of..., well, it knocked him on his ass. And, Tony, if I find out that you upset him, Pepper will leave you for lack of... _things_." And then, she hangs up on him.

It doesn't even dawn on him that Natasha just threatened him, because if Rogers was in a place where Tony's little, sarcastic remarks can actually go to his head, Steve's probably half dead.

There are shouts - people want to know why he looks like death, probably (_"Mr. Stark! Why are you crying!" "Mr. Stark! Captain America's name is Steve Rogers?"_) - but he ignores them. "This is officially over, go home or go anywhere, I don't care. Just..., leave." And then, he's in his car, speeding towards Washington because _fuck it_, that's why.

Steve was in an actual hospital.

Steve was half dead.

Steve was being beaten down by the past.

Steve was... a lot more important to Tony than he'd originally thought.

Tony went even faster.


End file.
